USA: Iowa boarding school director sentenced to 9 years for abuse

KEOKUK, Iowa (AP) — A former Iowa boarding school director convicted of abusing students has been sentenced to nine years in prison.

The Hawk Eye reports that 40-year-old Benjamin Trane was sentenced Thursday over defense objections that he didn’t get a fair trial.

A jury in December convicted Trane of assault with intent to commit sexual abuse, sexual exploitation of a child by a counselor and child endangerment at the now-defunct Midwest Academy in Keokuk. The school closed in 2016 following a federal raid to investigate abuse allegations.

The sentence came after defense attorney Alfredo Parrish filed an appeal to the state Supreme Court asking it to overturn the verdict and order a new trial. Parrish says the prosecution was slow to give the defense evidence needed to properly defend Trane.